Ann Holton recorded her new Christmas CD during the hottest days of summer, squeezing her eyes shut to capture images of sleighs cresting snowy trails, stars rising high in the night sky and the joyful camaraderie of the Yuletide season.
“I recorded it over a couple of very hot days, in Dave Gunning’s studio in Lyon’s Brook, with the help of a lot of musical friends,” she said.
She is launching A Merry Little Christmas with a concert Saturday, Nov. 24 at Sharon St. John Church at 7 p.m.
It is Holton’s second CD, the first made when she was a teenager.
“I was only 17 for the first one and I was probably too young to appreciate everything that went into it. This time I was definitely more engaged in the planning and music.”
Holton, an elementary school music teacher who performs in a number of community groups and shows – usually to thunderous applause - had been thinking about making a CD for the past couple of years and eventually decided on a Christmas collection.
“I’ve always loved Christmas and Christmas music. I love the nostalgia, the memories of past Christmases and every song has an element of that for me and I think for others. For me, it might be a song I sang at home with my brother and sister, something I performed with my father when I was really young or something I learned from my grandmother.”
She made the CD while on maternity leave following the birth of her third daughter.
“I knew it was going to be busy but I also knew I’d have more flexibility on maternity leave than after I got back to work. My husband is also a teacher so the summer was my best shot at getting a CD made.”
The process began with rallying some old friends with a wealth of talent.
“John Meir came on board with me and was a great sounding board because he knows my voice so well. He came up with a list of songs and it almost matched the list I came up.”
Old friends Ardyth and Jennifer, guitarist Jeff Torbert and Darren McMullen of Coig joined in and Dave Pos, Holton’s former high school band teacher, played piano. One of the songs is recorded off-site at Sharon St. John Church United Church with Karen Crowley.
“They are all such professionals we only needed a few rehearsals and they were good to go.”
The album includes many traditional Christmas favourites such as the title song, I’ll be Home for Christmas, O Holy Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Let it Snow but there is also a Gordon Lightfoot tune and a lovely duet with Gunning.
Holton cannot remember a time when she was not surrounded by music. Her mother Phyllis plays piano and her father Bruce took her along to shows he was playing in from an early age. Her grandmother, Gert Holton, was a member of the original committee that brought the deCoste Centre to Pictou and wrote the music for popular musicals, Christie and The Bandmaster.
“I went to my grandmother’s after school and practiced or sometimes just played piano and sang. Sometimes it was a student and teacher relationship but often it was just grandmother and granddaughter having fun playing and singing together or listening to records.”
As a result, Holton came to love many old songs she learned with her grandmother, particularly songs of wartime.
“My husband jokes that I’m great on music before the 1950s but hopeless about anything recent. He is exaggerating but I do know a lot of beautiful songs from my grandmother’s era and I’m happy to keep them going.”
Holton studied music at Dalhousie University before going to University of Western Ontario where she did an artists’ diploma, a masters in voice and literature and then a bachelor of education.
“I considered a career as a soprano but there are many wonderful sopranos so I thought I should be smart and get a teaching degree. My mother let me know there were some openings for a music teacher close to home so I applied and came back, thinking I’d get a few years experience as a teacher and go back to music.”
At GR Saunders she met and later married another new teacher, Rene Melong.
“I know I am occasionally referred to as the could-have-been-an-opera singer elementary school teacher but that’s not the way I see it at all. I discovered I love teaching, I’ve got a great husband who is not a musician but supports everything I do musically, I’ve got my family close by and I’ve found lots of opportunities to perform.”
With her three young children, cousins and friends, performance can range from Old MacDonald Had a Farm in creative harmonies to the great operas she learned at university and she enjoys the variety. She also considers herself lucky to be able to raise a family in rural Pictou County, three minutes from her parents’ home.
“I’m enjoying where I am, being able to teach, to perform, to raise a family and now to put out a CD. There are moments when I’m rushing to shows, wondering what I am doing but I love to sing. Between my husband and my mother, who is always willing to step in to help with the children, I’m doing pretty well.”
Holton has been a regular member of the Ships of 1801 shows, just did a second summer with Our Town, Our Story in Pictou and will be performing in Songs of Remembrance at the deCoste Nov. 8.
Maternity leave ends just in time for Holton to start preparing for the GRS Christmas concert.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to school and the CD launch. My oldest daughter, who is five and just started school, has been singing Jingle Bells since July so it is a long, full Christmas season for us. “
Fiddler Heather Cameron will be joining the musicians who worked on the CD for its launch concert. Tickets are available from the Sharon St. John office and a portion of all ticket sales goes to the church’s capital fund.
